System Quality, Successful Use of Computer-Assisted Audit Tools and Techniques, and Audit Benefits: Evidence from Vietnamese Audit Firms

Computer-assisted audit tools and techniques (CAATs) are central to audit digitalization, yet it remains unclear which system-quality attributes make their use successful, particularly in audit markets where spreadsheets still dominate. Drawing on the DeLone and McLean information systems (IS) success model and operationalizing system quality through the ISO/IEC 25010 standard, this study examines how usability, compatibility, reliability, and security shape successful CAATs use (auditors’ use of and satisfaction with CAATs) and, through it, audit benefits. Survey data from 289 auditors in Vietnamese audit firms were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Usability and reliability are the only attributes with unique effects on successful use, whereas compatibility and security add no explanatory power beyond them. Successful use strongly increases audit benefits and transmits the effects of usability and reliability; usability also improves benefits directly. Theoretically, the findings show that system-quality attributes are not equally consequential: in a spreadsheet-dominated audit setting, some act as differentiating drivers of IS success, whereas others function as baseline requirements. Practically, audit firms, especially small firms staffed largely by junior auditors, should select easy-to-learn, dependable tools and pair technology investment with hands-on training and standardized CAAT procedures.